Dionysus or Bacchus: The Greek God of Revelry and Wine Dionysus or Bacchus: God of Revelry and Wine Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, agriculture, and the theater. He was also the protector of vines, and trees. He was mainly associated with the intoxicating effects of wine . His Roman names are Bacchus and Liber. His followers were known as Bacchants, and his female followers were known as Maenads. He hated owls, which, incidentally, were the symbol of his sister Athena (the goddess of wisdom). His symbols were the wine cup, the thyrsus (a staff with pine cones on top), the vine, and the dolphin. Dionysus was the son of Zeus (the ruler of the gods and the god of storms and the sky) and Semele (a mortal woman). Hera (the wife of Zeus and the goddess of marriage) found out about Zeus and Semele before Dionysus was born. She was furious! In disguise, she went to Semele and said that Hera got to see Zeus in all of his splendor, so why shouldn't Semele get to see him also?

Seeing a god or goddess in his/her true form was deadly to mortals, but Semele did not know that. The next time Semele met Zeus she told him that if he truly loved her, he would swear on the river Styx (the most serious oath a deity can make) that he would do any favor that she asked. Zeus gladly obliged, but once he heard her request he was very dismayed, for she had asked to see him as he truly was. He had to do it, because he swore on the river Styx, but in doing so he killed her. However, Zeus took Dionysus, unborn, out of her womb while she was dying and put him in his thigh until he was ready to be born. This time spent in Zeus made Dionysus immortal. Another version of the story is that Dionysus was born before Zeus killed Semele and that Hera fed Dionysus to the titans, who ate everything but his heart. When Zeus found out, he recreated Dionysus around his heart. From this myth comes Dionysian epithet "twice-born".

When Dionysus was born, Zeus hid him from Hera by dressing him like a girl and bringing him to Ino, Semeleï¿½s sister. Ino raised Dionysus until Hera found out and tried to kill him. Zeus saved him by turning him into a ram. Then he took him to the nymphs of Mount Nysa. Dionysus once fell in love with a mortal man named Ampellos. However Ampellos was gored by a wild boar. As he died, Dionysus turned him into a grape vine. A bit after this, Hera found Dionysus and drove him mad. He wandered over the deserts of Egypt, looking for water. Then a ram sprung up beside him, took one look, and ran away. Dionysus chased the ram, and, in doing so, found water. Dionysus later built a temple to Zeus where he found water and made the ram a constellation. However, at the moment he was still insane. As Dionysus wandered, he met Rhea (mother of Zeus and goddess of agriculture). She cured his madness and taught him her rites. He then went to India and erected pillars to hold up the sky.

Then Dionysus went to Western Asia, where Eros (Cupid) shot both he and Poseidon with an arrow that carried love for Beroe, who was a mortal daughter of Aphrodite (the goddess of love). They both declared that she would be their bride. Aphrodite , dismayed by this state of affairs, said that they would battle each other for Beroe, but after the battle they had to be nice to each other and Beroeï¿½s village. They agreed, and Poseidon won. A Thracian king named Lycurgus once drove Dionysus and his followers into the sea, saying that Dionysus was not truly a god. In revenge, Dionysus drove Lycurgus mad and made all the vine plants in the area stop growing. He then had his oracle say that if Lycurgus was killed, the vine plants would grow again. Meanwhile, Lycurgus was killing his own son with an ax, because in his madness he thought his son was a vine plant. These two events conspired to make the subjects of Lycurgus kill him.

True to his word, Dionysus let the vine plants grow again once they killed their king. Dionysus then went to Thebes to punish a woman named Agave for spreading rumors that Zeus really was not his father. Her son, Penethus imprisoned Dionysus, but Dionysus escaped, and, in disguise, convinced Penethus to dress up like a woman so that he could spy on the Maenads. While Penethus slept a drunken sleep on this idea, he drove Agave mad and turned her into a Maenad. When Penethus woke up, he decided that Dionysusï¿½s idea was sound and spied on the Maenads. Of course, they figured out that he was not one of them. Agave killed her own son thinking he was a lion. When she found what she had done, she committed suicide. Dionysus then went to Greece and fell in love with a mortal woman named Althea, who was married to a king named Oneus. Oneus knew what was going on, but, out of respect for the god, said nothing.

Dionysus knew that Oneus knew, so, in thanks, gave him the grape plant and declared that it would be called oinos after him. Dionysus then boarded a ship to Argos. However, the crew decided to sell him as a slave. As they passed by the island of Naxos, he found out about their plans and turned the crew into dolphins. He then got off at Naxos and searched for someone who would shelter him. However, the only person he found was Ariadne, who had helped Theseus (a hero) kill the Minotaur on the condition that he take her to Greece with him. However, Theseus only took her to Naxos, where he set her ashore and left her. Dionysus married Ariadne, and convinced Zeus to grant her immortality. After Dionysus did this, he rescued his mother from Hades (the land of the dead) and turned her into a goddess named Thyone. Hera hated both Dionysus and Thyone, but her anger melted somewhat when Dionysus rescued the queen of the gods from a trap.

Hephaestus (the god of the forge) created a golden throne that imprisoned her as soon as she sat down. He did this because Hera had thrown him off Mount Olympus when he was a baby. Hephaestus would not let her go until Dionysus got him drunk. Then the gods and goddesses were able to convince him to let Hera go. A mortal king named Midas once saved one of the followers of Dionysus. In thanks, Dionysus offered to grant him a wish. Midas wanted everything he touched to turn to gold. Dionysus was amazed, but granted his wish. Midas was having fun turning things to gold when he started getting hungry. However, everything that he tried to eat turned to gold! Dionysus ran to Dionysus and begged him to remove the curse, for that was what it was. Dionysus told him to bathe in the river Paktolos. Midas did, and not only did his golden touch go away, but the river was filled with gold specks from then on.

Scholars think that Dionysus was not part of Greek mythology in its early period of formulation, but that he originated from a wilder god that was fused in the minds of the people to a god imported from Phrygia. He is usually depicted in Greek art as a long-haired youth holding a wine cup or a thyrsus. Hermes (the messenger god and god of thieves and travelers) is commonly associated with Dionysus. Most sacrifices made to Dionysus were rams. His worshipers tended to mysterious rites and intoxicated revels to forget the cares of the work-a-day world. Some cults were quite destructive, as indicated in the play The Bacchae by Euripides. A song sung in honor of Dionysus is called a dithyramb, which is an impassioned, wild song, usually accompanied by an ecstatic dance. Written by Kate Rayment Bacchus | Define Bacchus at Dictionary.com Bacchus the god of wine; Dionysus. Origin of Bacchus Examples from the Web for Bacchus Expand Contemporary Examples Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees was named King of the Bacchus Krewe at this year's Mardi Gras.

History's Craziest Hangover Cures Justin Jones December 29, 2014 Historical Examples And in the evening a fête where they carry a child got up as Bacchus, and seated on a barrel with a wine-cup. Aunt Phillis's Cabin Mary H. Eastman All sense of humour fled him when hammerlocked with Bacchus. Athalie Robert W. Chambers British Dictionary definitions for Bacchus Expand noun 1. (in ancient Greece and Rome) a god of wine and giver of ecstasy, identified with Dionysus Word Origin C15: from Latin, from Greek Bakkhos; related to Latin bāca small round fruit, berry Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.

1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for Bacchus Expand Greek god of wine and revelry, late 15c., from Latin Bacchus, from Greek Bakkhos, perhaps related to Latin bacca "berry, olive-berry, bead, pearl." Perhaps originally a Thracian fertility god. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Dionysus, the Greek god of Wine in Greek Mythology Parents: Dionysus was a son of Zeus , the King of the Gods and the beautiful princess Semele. Because of his mortal mother, his birthplace Thebes refused to acknowledge him as an immortal at first. Relationships: Aphrodite , the goddess of love, and Nyx , the goddess of the night.

Wife: Ariadne, the princess of Crete Famous Children: Priapus, Phthonus, Deianira Personality and Style of Dionysus Dionysus was a god known for his lightheartness and always offered his help to anyone in need. He was therefore very popular among gods and mortals and many festivals were being held every year in his honor. Nevertheless, Dionysus was many times misunderstood. Dionysus was one of the Olympian gods who actually did not live in Mount Olympus but was constantly travelling around the world together with Satyrs and Maenads in order to discover the secrets of winemaking. Bacchus *** Facts about Bacchus Bacchus was not only the god of wine but he was also the Roman god of good-cheer, hilarity, mirth and revels. The festival called Bacchanalia was held in his honor. The terrible reputation of these festivals, notorious for their debauchery and where all kinds of crimes and political conspiracies were supposed to be planned, led to a ban on these festivals. In 186 B.C.

the Roman Senate issued a decree, the so called 'Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus' by which the Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout the whole of Italy, except in certain special cases, in which the senate reserved the right of allowing them. The following facts and profile provides a fast overview of Bacchus: Bacchus Profile & Fact File Role & Function: His function is described as being the god of wine and drama Status: Major God and one of the 'Dei Consentes', the Council of Gods. Symbols: Bunch of grapes and a wine cup Alternate Name: Liber Greek Counterpart: The Greek name for this god was Dionysus Name of Wife: Ariadne Name of Father: Jupiter Name of Mother: Semele, the daughter of Cadmus Names of Children: Names of his children by Ariadne were Oenopion, Thoas, Staphylos and Peparethus. Other children, by Venus, included the Charites, Hymenaios and Priapus Facts about Bacchus in Greek Mythology and History Discover interesting information and facts about the Roman god of wine and drama.

The facts about Bacchus provides a list detailing fascinating additional info to increase your knowledge about Bacchus in ancient Roman Mythology and history. History and Mythical Facts about Bacchus Fact 1 about Bacchus: He was the son of Jupiter and Semele and the husband of Ariadne Fact 2 about Bacchus: Silenus was the tutor of Bacchus and was generally represented on an ass.

Fact 3 about Bacchus: The Thyrsus was the name of the vine encircled wand borne by the followers of the god Fact 4 about Bacchus: Telete was the goddess of initiation into the Bacchic orgies Fact 5 about Bacchus: Acratopotes was the god of unmixed wine and incontinence and Adephagia was the spirit of satiety and gluttony Fact 6 about Bacchus: He features in the Myth of King Midas Fact 7 about Bacchus: The Pleiades, the Seven Sisters were famous Oreads, mountain nymphs and were associated with Bacchus with whom they frolicked in the woody hills where many lived Fact 8 about Bacchus: Liber was another name given to the god of wine and revelry. The Liberalia were festivals held in honor of the god.

The Liberalia, was celebrated on the 17th of March Fact 9 about Bacchus: Bacchanalia was the festival to the god was held between March 15 and 16 Fact 9 about Bacchus: Bacchanalia were held in in the grove of Simila, near the Aventine Hill in Rome. It was initially attended by women only with many secret rites. The Latin word 'orgia' originally meant "secret rites" and from which the modern word 'orgy' is derived. Fact 10 about Bacchus: The Bacchantes was the name given to female followers of the god Fact 11 about Bacchus: Admission to the Bacchanalian rites were subsequently extended to men and celebrations took place five times a month. Fact 12 about Bacchus: The term 'bacchanalia' is used to refer to any drunken revelry. Fact 13 about Bacchus: There were many temples erected to him by the Romans. Sacrifices to the god were the goat and the swine because these animals were destructive to the vine.

Bacchus (Greek Counterpart was Dionysus) The Romans habitually assimilated various elements from other cultures and civilisations, including the gods and goddesses that were worshipped by the Greeks and other nations. When the Roman Empire conquered the Greeks in 146BC many of the Greek gods and goddesses were adopted by the Romans. The Romans simply changed the Greek gods names to Latin equivalents. His Greek counterpart of was Dionysus. The Roman religion significantly differed from the Greeks in that it was officially endorsed by the state and exerted influence over the government of Rome. Politicians took the offices of influential priests, called pontiffs, to gain control of the popular worship, Roman gods and goddesses like Bacchus were worshipped at every public event, including the gladiatorial games, where blood sacrifices were made to the gods. In ancient Rome, the pantheon of 12 major gods, including Bacchus, were called the 'Dei Consentes' meaning the Council of Gods.

Bacchus and the Roman Gods Family Tree and Genealogy The Roman gods family tree provides an instant overview of the genealogy and the family connections and relationships between the main deities, including Bacchus, who feature in the legends and mythology of the ancient Romans. The Primeval gods and deities, the Titans and the Roman Olympians. Bacchus Interesting information and Facts about the Roman god of mirth and revellry The Roman god of wine and drama Stories and Legends in Roman Mythology associated with Bacchus Facts and information about the Gods and Deities of the Ancient World for schools and kids The Roman god of wine and drama Facts about Dionysus, God of Wine By deTraci Regula Updated April 29, 2016. Appearance: Dionysus is usually depicted as a dark haired, bearded young man but he can be shown beardless as well. Dionysus' Symbol or Attribute: Grapes, winecups, and wineskins; the staff formed of a pinecone on a stick called a thyrsus. Strengths: Dionysus is the creator of wine. He also shakes things up when it gets dull.

Weaknesses: God of intoxication and drunkenness, states he pursues frequently. Parents: Son of Zeus and Semele, who unwisely asked to see her lover Zeus in his real form; he appeared and thunder and lightning and Semele was consumed; Zeus saved their child from the ashes of her body. Spouse: Best known is Ariadne, Cretan princess/priestess who assisted Theseus defeat the Minotaur only to be abandoned by him on the shores of Naxos , one of the islands favored by Dionysos. Fortunately, Dionysus liked beachcombing and quickly found and comforted the abandoned princess with an offer of marriage. Children: Several children by Ariadne, including Oenopion and Staphylos, both associated with grapes and winemaking. continue reading below our video Before Your Road Trip, Watch This Some Major Temple Sites: Dionysus was reverenced at Naxos and generally wherever grapes were grown and wine was produced. In modern times, the so-called "Dirty Monday" rites at Tyrnavos in the Thessaly region of Greece are believed to retain traditions dating back to when he was openly worshiped.

The theater dedicated to Dionysus at the Acropolis in Athens Greece has been recently restored and is now hosting performances after a 2500-year hiatus. Basic Story: Other than the story of his birth, Dionysus is relatively myth-free, yet he was very widespread in later Greek belief. He was not considered to be one of the Olympians, and since Homer skips him, it is suspected that his worship came late to the Greeks, possibly from Anatolia. He was later "adopted" by the Romans under the name of Bacchus, god of the grape, but the Greek worship of Dionysus was more ecstatic and may have preserved some early shamanic practices related to the intoxication provided by wine. Some see in him a survival of the young, vigorous "Cretan-born" Zeus. Interesting Fact: Otherwise proper and repressed Greek matrons devoted to Dionysus would become wild maenads for a night and run the slopes of the mountains, looking for prey to catch and tear apart with their bare hands.

Alternate spellings: Dionysos, Dionisis More Fast Facts on Greek Gods and Goddesses: God of wine | Article about God of wine by The Free Dictionary God of wine | Article about God of wine by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Dionysus (dīənī`səs), in Greek religion and mythology, god of fertility and wine. Legends concerning him are profuse and contradictory. However, he was one of the most important gods of the Greeks and was associated with various religious cults. He was probably in origin a Thracian deity. According to the Orphic legend, he was Dionysus Zagreus, the son of Zeus and Persephone (see Orphic Mysteries Orphic Mysteries or Orphism, religious cult of ancient Greece, prominent in the 6th cent. B.C. According to legend Orpheus founded these mysteries and was the author of the sacred poems from which the Orphic doctrines were drawn. ..... Click the link for more information. ); in other legends he was the son of Zeus and Semele and was reared by the nymphs on Mt.

Nysa, where he invented the art of wine making. Having grown to manhood, Dionysus wandered through many lands, teaching men the culture of the vine and the mysteries of his cult. He was followed by an entourage of satyrs, sileni, maenads, and nymphs. Many festivals were held in honor of Dionysus; most famous were the Lesser or Rural Dionysia (in late December), the Greater or City Dionysia (in late spring), the Anthesteria (in early spring), and the Lenaea (in winter). His characteristic worship was ecstatic and women were prominently involved. Votaries, through music, dancing, and drinking, and through eating flesh and blood of sacrificial animals, attempted to merge their identities with nature. Later, however, the worship of Dionysus became more formalized and calm. It was believed that not only could he liberate and inspire man through wine and ecstatic frenzy, but he could endow him directly with divine creativity. Dionysus thus came to be considered a patron of the arts. He was variously represented as a full-grown bearded man, as a beast, and as a delicate, effeminate youth.

The Romans identified him with Liber and with Bacchus Bacchus , in Roman religion and mythology, god of wine; in Greek mythology, Dionysus. Dionysus was also the god of tillage and law giving. He was worshiped at Delphi and at the spring festival, the Great Dionysia. ..... Click the link for more information. , who was more properly the god of wine. From the music, singing, and dancing at the festivals of Dionysus developed the dithyramb dithyramb , in ancient Greece, hymn to the god Dionysus, choral lyric with exchanges between the leader and the chorus. It arose, probably, in the extemporaneous songs of the Dionysiac festivals and was developed (according to tradition, by Arion) into the literary form to be ..... Click the link for more information. and ultimately Greek drama.

Bibliography bacchus [BAK uhs] - Word Information bacchus [BAK uhs] (Greek > Latin: an ancient Greek and Roman god of wine and revelry; earlier called Dionysus by the Greeks) Bacchae (BAK ee) Greek myth, women companions of Bacchus; priestesses of Bacchus; the women who took part in the Bacchanalia [bak" uh NAYL yuh] which was an ancient Roman festival in honor of Bacchus; by extension, a drunken party, an orgy. bacchanal 1. A participant in the Bacchanalia. 2. A drunken or riotous celebration. 3. Of, relating to, or typical of the worship of Bacchus. Bacchanalia (singular and plural) 1. The ancient Roman festival in honor of Bacchus. 2. When not capitalized, bacchanalia, refers to a riotous, boisterous, or drunken festivity; revel (boisterous festivity or celebration). bacchanalian, bacchanalianism, bacchanalism 1. Of, connected with, or relating to bacchanals. 2.

Characterized by, connected with, or given to drunken revelry; riotously drunken, roystering (roistering, a rude or noisy reveller). 3. A bacchanal, a drunken reveller, a tippler (a habitual drinker of intoxicating liquor implying more or less excess, but usually short of positive drunkenness). bacchanalization Turning into a drunken revel. bacchanalize To turn into drunken revelry; indulge in revelry (merry-making; boisterous gaiety). bacchant 1. A priest, priestess, or inspired votary (devoted to a particular religion or devoted or passionately addicted to some particular pursuit) of Bacchus; hence, a drunken reveller, roysterer (now roisterer, a swaggering or noisy reveller). 2. Bacchus-worshipping, wine-loving. A priestess or female votary (worshiper) of Bacchus. bacchantic Of or pertaining to the devotees of Bacchus. bacchation Drunken riot; uncontrolled and excessive drinking of alcohol. Bacchic, bacchic 1. Bacchic, of or relating to Bacchus. 2.

When not capitalized, bacchic refers to drunken and carousing behavior. Bacchus 1. The god of wine; hence, wine, intoxicating liquor. 2. A "child of Bacchus" is a name that refers to someone who drinks to excess; a drunkard. 3. A classical god of wine: in Greek and Roman mythology, the god of wine, identified with the Greek god Dionysus and the Roman god Liber. He was worshiped with orgiastic and ecstatic rites. From Greek Bakkhos via Latin Bacchus. 4. Dionysus came from Greek and Roman mythology and was the god of wine and of an orgiastic religion celebrating the power and fertility of nature. The orgies honoring Dionysus probably originated as fertility rites. Gradually the festivals took on many forms, ranging from drinking feasts to festal processions and dramatic performances. When the orgies were introduced into Rome, they became known as bacchanalia, named for Bacchus. In Rome, the rites for Bacchus started out as secret gatherings for women only. Later, after men were admitted, they became the sort of gatherings suggested by the contemporary meaning of orgy.

The Bucchanalia of ancient Rome became increasingly notorious for drunkenness, debauchery, and licentiousness of all kinds. Things progressed to the point where the Roman senate felt the need to issue a decree in 186 B.C. prohibiting Bacchanalia. Dionysus | Define Dionysus at Dictionary.com Dionysus [dahy-uh-nahy-suh s] /ˌdaɪ əˈnaɪ səs/ Spell the god of fertility, wine, and drama; Bacchus. Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for Dionysus Expand Contemporary Examples Ann Wroe’s ‘Orpheus’: Why the Mythological Muse Haunts Us Ann Wroe May 30, 2012 She cheated on her husband Hephaestus with Ares, Hermes, and Dionysus. The Ship Dwellers Albert Bigelow Paine This festival, in honour of Dionysus, was observed with great splendour. Philothea Lydia Maria Child Now, in the Mysteries of Dionysus, the legend was that of the death and subsequent resuscitation of the god Dionysus.

Laws Plato He died while president of the theatre of Dionysus, and was buried on the road leading to the Academy at the expense of the state. Laws Plato Julian went into the sacred wood of Dionysus, where the silence was broken only by the humming of bees and the tinkle of a brook. British Dictionary definitions for Dionysus Expand noun 1. the Greek god of wine, fruitfulness, and vegetation, worshipped in orgiastic rites. He was also known as the bestower of ecstasy and god of the drama, and identified with Bacchus Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.

1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Bacchus (mythology) | Article about Bacchus (mythology) by The Free Dictionary Bacchus (mythology) | Article about Bacchus (mythology) by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Dionysus (dīənī`səs), in Greek religion and mythology, god of fertility and wine. Legends concerning him are profuse and contradictory. However, he was one of the most important gods of the Greeks and was associated with various religious cults. He was probably in origin a Thracian deity. According to the Orphic legend, he was Dionysus Zagreus, the son of Zeus and Persephone (see Orphic Mysteries Orphic Mysteries or Orphism, religious cult of ancient Greece, prominent in the 6th cent. B.C.

According to legend Orpheus founded these mysteries and was the author of the sacred poems from which the Orphic doctrines were drawn. ..... Click the link for more information. ); in other legends he was the son of Zeus and Semele and was reared by the nymphs on Mt. Nysa, where he invented the art of wine making. Having grown to manhood, Dionysus wandered through many lands, teaching men the culture of the vine and the mysteries of his cult. He was followed by an entourage of satyrs, sileni, maenads, and nymphs. Many festivals were held in honor of Dionysus; most famous were the Lesser or Rural Dionysia (in late December), the Greater or City Dionysia (in late spring), the Anthesteria (in early spring), and the Lenaea (in winter). His characteristic worship was ecstatic and women were prominently involved. Votaries, through music, dancing, and drinking, and through eating flesh and blood of sacrificial animals, attempted to merge their identities with nature. Later, however, the worship of Dionysus became more formalized and calm.

It was believed that not only could he liberate and inspire man through wine and ecstatic frenzy, but he could endow him directly with divine creativity. Dionysus thus came to be considered a patron of the arts. He was variously represented as a full-grown bearded man, as a beast, and as a delicate, effeminate youth. The Romans identified him with Liber and with Bacchus Bacchus , in Roman religion and mythology, god of wine; in Greek mythology, Dionysus. Dionysus was also the god of tillage and law giving. He was worshiped at Delphi and at the spring festival, the Great Dionysia. ..... Click the link for more information. , who was more properly the god of wine. From the music, singing, and dancing at the festivals of Dionysus developed the dithyramb dithyramb , in ancient Greece, hymn to the god Dionysus, choral lyric with exchanges between the leader and the chorus. It arose, probably, in the extemporaneous songs of the Dionysiac festivals and was developed (according to tradition, by Arion) into the literary form to be ..... Click the link for more information.

and ultimately Greek drama. Bibliography Dionysos | Greek Mythology Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Birth of Dionysus Conception and Birth Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Semele . Zeus came to Semele in the night, invisible, felt only as a divine presence. Semele was pleased to be a lover of a god, even though she did not know which one. Word soon got around and Hera quickly assumed who was responsible. Coming to Semele in disguise, Hera convinced her she should see her lover as he really was. When Zeus next came to her she made him show his true form. As mortals are incapable to see the 'true' and divine forms of the gods, she was burnt to ashes. Infancy and Childhood According to the myth, Zeus gave the infant Dionysus into the charge of Hermes . One version of the story is that Hermes took the boy to King Athamas and his wife Ino, Dionysus' aunt. Hermes bade the couple raise the boy as a girl, to hide him from Hera's wrath.

Another version is that Dionysus was taken to the rain- nymphs of Nysa, who nourished his infancy and childhood, and for their care Zeus rewarded them by placing them as the Hyades among the stars (see Hyades star cluster). Other versions have Zeus giving him to Rhea, or to Persephone to raise in the Underworld, away from Hera. Alternatively, he was raised by Maro. Dionysus in Greek mythology is a god of foreign origin, and while Mount Nysa is a mythological location, it is invariably set far away to the east or to the south. The Homeric hymn to Dionysus places it "far from Phoenicia, near to the Egyptian stream." Others placed it in Anatolia, or in Libya ('away in the west beside a great ocean'), in Ethiopia (Herodotus), or Arabia (Diodorus Siculus). Later Life When Dionysus grew up, he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice; but Hera struck him with madness, and drove him forth a wanderer through various parts of the earth.

In Phrygia the goddess Cybele, better known to the Greeks as Rhea, cured him and taught him her religious rites, and he set out on a progress through Asia teaching the people the cultivation of the vine. The most famous part of his wanderings is his expedition to India, which is said to have lasted several years. According to a legend, when Alexander the Great reached a city called Nysa near the Indus river, the locals said that their city was founded by Dionysus in the distant past and their city was dedicated to the god Dionysus. Returning in triumph he undertook to introduce his worship into Greece, but was opposed by some princes who dreaded its introduction on account of the disorders and madness it brought with it (e.g. Pentheus or Lycurgus).Dionysus was exceptionally attractive. One of the Homeric hymns recounts how, while disguised as a mortal sitting beside the seashore, a few sailors spotted him, believing he was a prince. They attempted to kidnap him and sail him far away to sell for ransom or into slavery. They tried to bind him with ropes, yet no rope could hold him.

Dionysus turned into a fierce lion and unleashed a bear on board, killing those he came into contact with. Those who jumped off the ship were mercifully turned into dolphins. The only survivor was the helmsman, Acoetes, who recognized the god and tried to stop his sailors from the start. In a similar story, Dionysus desired to sail from Icaria to Naxos. He then hired a Tyrrhenian pirate ship. However, when the god was on board, they sailed not to Naxos but to Asia, intending to sell him as a slave. So Dionysos turned the mast and oars into snakes, and filled the vessel with ivy and the sound of flutes so that the sailors went mad and, leaping into the sea, were turned into dolphins. Pentheus Pentheus was the king of Thebes at the time of Dionysos' worship. During his reign, no one in Thebes was allowed to worship Dionysos. Pentheus doubted Dionysos' divinity. He thought the person he was dealing with was not a god.

So Dionysos made him pay: in disguise, he led Pentheus onto a mountain where a religious cermony was taking place and had him watch from up on a tree. Dionysus' followers mistook Pentheus for a wild animal and Pentheus was torn to pieces as part of their ritual. When Dionysos was satisfied that Pentheus was gone, he brought his followers back to their senses. The Giant War Despite merely being the god of wine, Dionysus fought in the Giant War. While Eurytos was the only one of the Gigantes Dionysus killed (which he did with his thyrsos) he did wound some of them and kill several of their allies such as the Gegenees (Earthborn). Dionysus also slowed down other Gigantes. ''"Dionysos slew Eurytos with his thyrsos." -Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.

37 (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) "Bakkhos repaid the stubble of snakehaired Gigantes, a conquering hero with a tiny manbreaking wand, when he cast the battling ivy against Porphyrion, when he buffelted Enkelados and drove Alkyoneus with a volley of leaves: then the wands flew in showers, and brought the Gegenees (Earthborn) down in defence of Olympos, when the coiling sons of Gaia with two hundred hands [ie there were a hundred Gigantes], who pressed the starry vault with manynecked heads, bent the knee before a flimsy javelin of vineleaves or a spear of ivy. Not so great a swarm fell to the fiery thunderbolt as fell to the manbreaking thyrsus." -Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25. 85 ff "Fire was also a weapon of Bakkhos.

He cast a torch in the air to destroy his adversaries: through the high paths ran the Bakkhic flame leaping and curling over itself and shooting down corrosive sparks on the Gigante's limbs; and there was a serpent with a blaze in his threatening mouth, half-burnt and whistling with a firescorched throat, spitting out smoke instead of a spurt of deadly poison. There was infinite tumult. Bakkhos raised himself and lifted his fighting torch over the heads of his adversaries, and roasted the Gigantes' bodies with a great conflagration, an image on earth of the thunderbolt cast by Zeus. The torches blazed: fire was rolling all over the head of Enkelados and making the air hot, but it did not vanquish him - Enkelados bent not his knee in the steam of the earthly fire, since he was reserved for the thunderbolt. Vast Alkyoneus leapt upon Lyaios [Dionysos] armed with his Thrakian crags; he lifted over Bakkhos a cloudhigh peak of wintry Haimos.'' Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.

6 ff : "My sons, make your attack with hightowering rocks against clustergarlanded Dionysos--catch this Indianslayer, this destroyer of my family, this son of Zeus, and let me not see him ruling with Zeus a bastard monarch of Olympos! Bind him, bind Bakkhos fast, that he may attend in the chamber when I bestow Hebe on Porphyrion as a wife, and give Kythereia to Khthonios, when I sing Brighteyes he bedfellow of Enkelados, and Artemis of Alkyoneus." -Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 6 ff Gallery

Question: What is the Greek name for Bacchus the god of wine and revelry?
Answer: DIONYSUS